I wasn't planning to disassemble the driveshaft and final drive, but rather, was planning to disconnect and swing the driveline (from the transmission back to the rear wheel) out to the right, a la Chris Harris' video here:

Yes doable but akward to reposition. I could not get the driveshaft clipped back on the transmission output shaft when I tried it. I would remove the rear wheel at a minimum so you have less weight to move around.

Good luck.

__________________
RBMann- The road is his workshop, and his trips are opportunities to do much needed repairs. -Bill S.
* 2000 S, color-Salmon 100K+ * '09 F650GS twin
* '83 GPZ 550-gone to a newbie * '75 CB400F-retired to AZ.

The transmission has to be repaired or replaced anyway. You might as well separate everything on the way out. That makes the R&R process lighter and easier. If you haven't done this before you will need a heat gun, a 30 mm socket, a 12 mm hex socket, a big breaker bar, a big torque wrench, and some wire brushes.

Here's something to ponder as you do this. You are supposed to assemble the swingarm and final drive with super duper locktite. That's why you need the heat gun and wire brushes the first time you take it apart. i'd venture to guess that most folks do not use the super locktite when they reassemble the driveline. Most use good ol' blue locktite. Some don't use any at all. I'm in the blue locktite group.

And I believe the next step is to remove the catalytic converter and muffler up-pipe. At this point, I've a question or two for the hive mind:

1. It looks like the muffler's female connection to the male end of the up-pipe overlaps the up-pipe to some extent.

Not sure how much, but it seems to me that now I need to loosen the muffler, at least enough to pull it off the end of the up-pipe, to free it for removal. Can someone confirm?

2. The oxygen sensor on the front end of the catalytic converter. Geez, that's a tight spot to get to. Looks like a 20mm open-end wrench would fit. Do you folks usually pull the cat back a little, clearing the rubber grommets, to get a little more room to access that sensor?

You can leave the muffler on. First unplug the O2 sensor wire and snake the wire out so it can go with the CAT. Once you have done that, spray a lube or penetrating oil on the muffle/Cat junction. By twisting l-r it while pulling down it should come apart and then you leave the muffler hanging on the sub-frame.

__________________
RBMann- The road is his workshop, and his trips are opportunities to do much needed repairs. -Bill S.
* 2000 S, color-Salmon 100K+ * '09 F650GS twin
* '83 GPZ 550-gone to a newbie * '75 CB400F-retired to AZ.

Dana - before you proceed, take a look at my son Tim in his back garden doing this job on a sunny day w'out a bike lift or any kind of stand, unaided. Ignore the first 2˝ mins at the start where he's taking off the weird aftermarket German front fairing that a previous owner had paid a grand for - silly boy.
At least this vid will show you where everything was before you started wrenching - except that UK bikes have none of that foolish charcoal filter business to discard...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egZyER5Sn7E

And when splitting the bike for the clutch spacer and new slave cylinder job, there's no need to separate the gearbox / swingarm, 'cos as you see in Tim's video, you can wheel the entire 76kg unit backwards away from the clutch using just a trolley jack and the still-installed back wheel.
Ignore the first 2˝ mins where he's removing the odd front fairing...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egZyER5Sn7E

He especially liked the flashlight, peaking at how the muffler is mounted.

Not entirely clear from the service manual, but it hangs from two rubber grommeted inverted U-shaped hanger mounts, on rear facing pins, near the aft end. WD-40 liberally, a few smacks with a plastic headed mallet, stand behind the bike, place your hands on the front of the cans, and pull back, then down, and it's free of the cat up-pipe.

Off pops the muffler, and the cat slides right out. The muffler is the heavier of the two pieces, which was unexpected.

Next we pulled the the shock, bottom mounting bolt first.

Had to move that relocated charcoal canister out of the way of the top of the shock.